Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device, system and method for updating the software modules of a vehicle and, more particularly, to a device, system and method including an interface device local to the vehicle that communicates with a remote third party location or customer service center to provide the interface device with OEM software from a variety of different makes of vehicle with which to update the vehicle software modules.
Description of the Related Art
At the turn of the century the EPA and CARB noticed that many vehicles on the road were not meeting emissions standards because of old calibrations. The SAE J2534 standard was developed to address this problem. SAE J2534 is a standard for communications between a computer and a vehicle. Government regulations require all automakers provide a J2534 service to everyone in the U.S. for re-flashing emissions related controllers. In recent years the EPA, CARB, and European Union have required automotive companies to allow for emissions-related modules (ECM/TCM) to be reprogrammable without use of special and often very expensive factory tools, in an effort to reduce harmful emissions. U.S. Pat. No. 8,638,207 to Drew, et al. (incorporated by reference, herein), discloses a vehicle computer interface and software upgrade tool for re-flashing a vehicle computer. The '207 patent, discloses a system that is “unique in that it allows the technician to add or subtract modules any time they want without doing anything more than attaching the new module to the existing modules in the same manner that Legos® are attached to each other”. See, for example, col. 8 of the '207 patent, lines 11-17. Additionally, the '207 patent discloses that information can be transferred between the modules and a personal computer, and that “a software upgrade for a vehicle could be downloaded from a vehicle manufacture's Website to the laptop computer over the Internet”. See, for example, col. 5 of the '207 patent, lines 44-52.
What is needed is a system, device and method for updating vehicle computer software without requiring the purchase of multiple hardware modules to be plugged into the updating tool, in order to perform the update. What is additionally needed is a one stop shopping solution that provides OEM software updates for a plurality of vehicle manufacturers, without requiring the user to access, and subscribe to, multiple vehicle manufacturer's Websites.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,688,313 to Margol et al., discloses a system and method for remotely programming a vehicle by way of the vehicle's OBD connector. More particularly, the '313 patent contemplates a bi-directional communication system that is adapted to transmit the vehicle signals present on pins across a computer network for remote data analysis and manipulation, and to permit remote programming of the subject vehicle's sub systems. See, for example, col. 7 of the '313 patent, lines 7-11. In the '313 patent, this bi-directional communication link between the vehicle and the remote location allows a technician at the remote location to program a vehicle via a scan tool or computing system, as if he were standing proximate to the vehicle. See, for example, col. 7 of the '313 patent, lines 11-16. To this end, the vehicle communication device receives vehicle signals present on pins of a vehicle connector, convert the vehicle signals to a network-compatible data packet and relay the data packet to the remote communication device over the bi-directional link. The remote communication device is configured to request and receive the vehicle packet and convert it back to vehicle-compatible signals, which are processed and analyzed by a scan tool in communication with the remote communication device through an OBD connection, as if the scan toll were directly connected to the vehicle communication device. See, for example, col. 9 of the '313 patent, lines 30-41. Vehicle-compatible programming signals are then converted to network-compatible data packets and relayed from the remote communication device to the vehicle communication device, which re-converts the programming packet to vehicle compatible (pin compatible) programming signals. See, for example, col. 9 of the '313 patent, lines 49-61. The '313 patent does not remotely program the reprogramming tool, rather, in the '313 patent, “vehicle packets and programming packets can be exchanged between the vehicle and the remote location, in either direction, to enable remote analysis and programming of the vehicle”. See, for example, col. 9 of the '313 patent, lines 58-61.
What is needed is a system that does not program the vehicle remotely, but rather, remotely downloads OEM software from a variety of manufacturers to a device that is local to the vehicle, so that the local reprogramming tool can be used to reprogram a variety of vehicles of different makes.